Women Leaders Network: Success is Female

Powerful teams are very often diverse. A good mixture of different personalities is beneficial, and it is for this reason that diversity in general has been encouraged for years at Boehringer Ingelheim. The targeted support of women has always been a relevant topic.  

That is why the eight founder members of the Women Leaders Network decided six years ago to create a network of women supervisors. The first step was to announce the project to the colleagues concerned. Ingrid Vorwahlner from cancer research recalls:

 “Our message was simple but important: we have a treasure trove of experience that we can all benefit from. We offer you the possibility of communicating with women supervisors through a mentoring program and through meetings for networking with like-minded people.” 

The Women Leaders Network has also made suggestions for specific structural improvements. For example, job vacancy announcements used to be anonymous. The Women Leaders Network recommended that the supervisor concerned should be named so that they could be contacted beforehand. “This helped encourage women to apply for posts that were not perhaps fully in line with their job experience. This way they could find out beforehand if the job was suitable for them,” explains Susanne Varvaressos from Biopharmacy.  

“Boehringer has developed in the right direction over the past few years. Women have also been represented on the Board of Managing Directors since 2020. First Carinne Brouillon, now Paola Casarosa as Head of Innovation Unit.” Many of the founder members of the Women Leaders Network have also advanced in their careers. But there is still a lot to do. “We will stay on course and keep up the momentum in 2025,” promises Varvaressos.